Time Signature Metal squad...

Genre: progressively inclined heavy metal

I agree with Certif1ed's very positive evaluation of this NWOBHM release. The music on this demo single is really something else, and, had Hell not been struck by one tragedy after another (first the label that signed them went bankrupt and then one of their members committed suicide), they could perhaps have been just as big as Def Leppard, Saxon, or maybe even Iron Maiden.

The thing is, while the NWOBHM bands had a lot of enthusiasm and spirit, and certainly a lot of charm, most of them were not very good, and one of the reasons why Maiden became so successful is doubtlessly that they were lightyears ahead of most other NWOBHM bands. Now, on this demo release, Hell display a very high level of musicianship, surely matching that of Iron Maiden at the time, and like Maiden, the music is somewhat progressively inclined. It's really tragic that Hell didn't amount to more (but they've reformed with the intention of releasing a full-length album - so that's promising).

Anyway, the "Save Us From Those Who Would Save Us" title track is an uptempo hard-hitting, almost thrashy, track which, as Certif1ed points out can be compared to the works of Mercyful Fate (unlike Certif1ed, I think Mercyful Fate's music is generally better than this track , but it certainly is in the same territory of dark and semi-progressive heavy metal).

The other track "Death Squad" is an amazing progressively oriented instrumenta with numerous twists and turns and tempo changes and harmonies that would later be taken up by black metal and melodic death metal acts. This is a really really interesting track.

The production cannot be criticized - actually, it is quite good for an underground demo recorded in the late 1970s or early 1980s. I can imagine that those who are perhaps too young to have experienced that sort of production may have a hard time seing the value and greatness in this release.

Anyway, I'd recommend this to all fans of traditional heavy metal acts like Maiden and Mercyful and also progressive metal heads. It's a rarity, to be sure, but you can actually hear the tracks here on MMA.

Certif1ed The fiery end of the NWoBHM

It never ceases to amaze me, when digging through piles of dusty 45s produced by bands who remain largely unheard of, in that glorious half-decade from 1978-1983, how much awesome metal potential fell to the wayside.

This demo single from Hell is case in point, really - blistering, battering riffs of demonic darkness, tempered by genuinely sinister sounding keyboards and disturbing vocals with lyrics wrought from the darkest places inside the human soul.

A strident opening to Save Us From Those Who Would Save Us demands that you ignore the somewhat compressed production, and just try to imagine what today's beefed-up engineering could transform it into.

This excercise is worthwhile, as the structuring is quite similar to intros you might hear on, say Death's Scream Bloody Gore a couple of years later.

Pinch yourself as you note that this single was released in 1983, as the thrash metal kicks in, with guitar solos blazing all around, blink-and-you-miss-them instrumental fills, seriously infectious hooks, and all manner of instrumental lyric-dressing. The details are packed in densely, into this slamming, brutal slab of molten mayhem.

It's too easy to be distracted by the awful production - so choose the hard route and listen to the music. A bit like Mercyful Fate, but better, perhaps? I think so!

But the flipside is even better.

Check out that chunky riff - intertwined with the keys, it's got that Prog Metal sound all over it, and the technical details only serve to confirm that this is Prog Metal many years before it's claimed conception.

There's a lot of Satan inspiration here, and again, the devil (sic) is in the detail - you will (hopefully) hear a LOT of Black Metal bands rooted in the music here, but more than that, this will kick your ass back to the 1980s, and remind you what an amazing time in metal music it was.

Or you might simply hear a rather scrappily recorded and sloppily played NWoBHM demo. Your loss.

Unlike the Speed demo I reviewed earlier, this one is arguably worth the £200+ price tag that collectors pay - but fortunately there are at least 3 different demo tapes in unknown quantities around the second-hand shops and auction sites somewhere - and a Phoenix re-issue, if you can bear it - so it is possible to get your paws on this great music without selling one of your guitars.